▪ I. fortress, n.
(ˈfɔːtrɪs)
Forms: 4–5 forteresse, Sc. fortrace, fortrass, 4 forceress (? read fort-), 5–7 fortresse, 6 fortres, 4– fortress.
[a. OF. forteresse strength, a strong place, f. fort strong; a variant of, or parallel formation with, fortelesce fortalice.]
1. A military stronghold, fortified place; in mod. use chiefly one capable of receiving a large force; often applied to a strongly fortified town regarded from a military point of view.
| 13.. K. Alis. 2668 Wel they warden gatis alle, The fortresses and the walle. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 7143 When he had alle þys forceresses..Ȝyt he þoughte [etc.]. c 1450 Merlin 192 Kynge Arthur hadde wele garnysshed alle the forteresses of hys londe. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. Ep. A j, Divers stronge Castels and Fortresses were peaceably geven up. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 759 There was a strong Fortress raised close by the City. 1769 Robertson Chas. V, II. ii. 90 Those in garrison at Goletta threatened to give up that important fortress. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 Thick walls and turrets at the angles gave the whole the aspect and the reality of a fortress. |
| transf. and fig. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 104 The hertis of good peple ben the castell & forterescis of secretes. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 757 Affection towardes hym, had bene to his noble children..a merveilous fortresse and sure armor. 1603 R. Niccols Fun. Orat. Q. Eliz., Her countrie was the fortresse of banisht men. 1738 Wesley Psalms xviii. 1 My Rock and Fortress is the Lord. |
2. attrib. and
Comb.:
a. simple
attrib., as
fortress-company,
fortress-engineer.
b. appositive, as
fortress-castle,
fortress-chapel,
fortress-church,
fortress-city,
fortress-palace,
fortress-prison,
fortress-rock,
fortress-tomb,
fortress-town. Also in phrases of the type
Fortress America,
Fortress Europe [after G.
Festung Europa].
c. instrumental, as
fortress-guarded adj.| 1951 N.Y. Herald Tribune 25 Feb. 24 The central thesis..is the idea that *fortress America could survive alone. 1960 Times 13 Jan. 13/7 American interest in civil defence shelters might be interpreted as implying American belief in a Fortress America. 1966 Guardian 21 Apr. 18/3 A retreat to a ‘fortress America’ concept. |
| 1906 Westm. Gaz. 16 Aug. 2/3 No Imperial *fortress-castle is strong enough to Germanise the vast plains where peer and peasant alike are still passionately Polish. |
| 1838 J. Pardoe River & Desert II. 52 The *fortress-chapel of Nôtre-Dame-de-la-Garde. |
| 1963 Times 9 Feb. 11/2 Characteristic is its *fortress-church. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 22 Feb. 1/3 The buried *fortress-city of Jericho. |
| 1893 Daily News 24 Jan. 5/7 A garrison company of artillery, a *fortress company of engineers. |
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 4 Oct. 4/3 A company of *fortress engineers. |
| 1942 Nation 19 Dec. 682 It was the Italian press which first launched the idea of *Fortress Europe. 1944 Sat. Even. Post 27 May 12/1 We shall still face the real problem of Fortress Europe, the penetration of the German mind. 1971 Guardian 22 July 4/1 The Prime Minister..said..‘I have never seen a European policy as a policy of withdrawal into a fortress Europe.’ |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 24 Jan. 1/2 Across the *fortress-guarded frontier. |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 3/1 The gloomy *fortress-palaces. |
| 1955 J. Thomas No Banners viii. 70 A fire-gutted convent which had been transformed under the Franco régime into a *fortress prison. |
| 1838 J. Pardoe River & Desert I. 218 Our *fortress-rock of Gibraltar. |
| 1835 Willis Pencillings I. xii. 90, I crossed the Tiber at the *fortress-tomb of Adrian. |
| 1937 Discovery Aug. 250/2 The *fortress-town..enclosed an area of about 270 by 200 metres. |
▪ II. fortress, v. (
ˈfɔːtrɪs)
[f. prec. n.] trans. To furnish with a fortress or fortifications; to protect with or as with a fortress. Chiefly
transf. and
fig.| 1542 Becon Pathw. Prayer Wks. (1564) 68 a, Hitherto I haue fortressed this my treatise with the sayinges of y⊇ godly learned Doctors. 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. xii. 232 That holy hyghe mount of Sion, well fortreced and turretted. 1546 in Strype Eccl. Mem. i. lii. 390 Our most puissant..King fortressed his most flourishing monarchy..with all things that a man can invent. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. Induct., So impregnably fortrest with his own content. 1652 Wharton tr. Rothmann's Chiromancy Ded. Wks. (1683) 2 Learning is best Fortress'd of those by whom she is most understood. 1848 Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 34 Want was the prime foe these hardy exodists had to fortress themselves against. 1857 Fraser's Mag. LVI. 499 Those grassy banks that fortressed him and his household from the rage of waters. |
Hence
ˈfortressed ppl. a.,
ˈfortressing vbl. n.| 1542 Becon David's Harp Wks. (1564) 159 b, There was no kyngdom so inuincible, strong, and fortressed, but that he..was able easly to ouercome. 1624 Chapman Homer's Hymn Venus Wks. (1858) 95 Venus, that owes in fate the fortressing Of all maritimal Cyprus. 18.. Lowell To Garrison Poet. Wks. 1890 I. 284 The lesson taught of old..In our single manhood to be bold, Fortressed in conscience. 1895 Reliquary Oct. 194 The stern, severe, massive fortressed work of their sister city, Florence. |